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How to Lose your Kids in Nevada
A Step-by-Step Guide

This page is incomplete and out of date and is retained only
for archive purposes. The dependency court process is
better explained in a booklet:
A Parent's Guide to Dependency Court (inspired in
part by this page).

Step 1: Do drugs.

Step 2: Get caught doing drugs while caring for your
kids.

Step 3: Lose your kids.

This may sound easy, but it's not. Step 3 is only the
beginning of what could become a very long process lasting
months or years. The fact is, the government doesn't
want your kids and will try to do everything it can to
give them back to you. (Can you blame them?) Doing drugs
just once is not going to be sufficient. To permanently get
rid of your kids, you are going to have to keep using
drugs, avoid contact with your caseworker, skip court
hearings, and resist all efforts at treatment and
counseling. Relieving you of your children is not done
quickly but involves the ponderous due process of
law, which takes a long time and provides you with ample
opportunity to change your mind.

The government may seem powerful, but stealing your kids
ain't easy. Contrary to popular belief, there is no secret
cabal of evil forces at the highest level of government and
industry conspiring to take your children. Instead, your
case is managed by a semi-secret cabal of county employees
who look just like you and me and who believe they are
working for Good. Instead of being directed by the United
Nations or the Council on Foreign Relations, they are guided
by the written instructions of Nevada law. If you
really want to lose your kids, then you don't have to
know anything about this system; just keep doing what you
are doing, and it will all work out. However, if you want
your kids back, it is helpful to know how the process
works and the rights and powers that you have.

The Process

If you were caught using illegal drugs while children are in
your care, it is automatically considered "neglect" under
Nevada Law (NRS
432B.140, case?), even if your
home is spotless and you never physically harmed your
children. In theory, smoking a joint in your backyard can
get your children taken away, but in practice it takes
methamphetamine, cocaine or substantial saleable quantities
of marijuana to initiate the process. (You also might lose your
kids if you call a press conference and announce loudly,
"Hey, look everybody, I'm smoking marijuana; come and get
me!") Your case is thrown into the same processing stream as
parents who are accused of beating or sexually abusing their
kids. If you were arrested at the same time you lost your
kids, then you will have to contend with criminal court for
whatever the alleged crime was, but the custody and welfare
of your children is handled completely separately, in civil
proceedings in Family Court. You can lose your kids even if
you are never arrested and are never charged with any
criminal offense.

After your kids are taken away by police or social workers,
here is what happens in the coming days, months and
years....

Step 4: Kids taken into custody. (NRS
432B.390) After the children are taken from your home,
they are usually brought first to Child Haven, the county's
emergency shelter for abused and neglected children. The
police or social workers may give you a number to call for
information on the status of your kids (although you will
probably lose it because you're on drugs). If you
are accused of something less than drug abuse  like
forgetting the pick up your first grader at school or
leaving him unattended at Wal-Mart, then you can probably
get your kid back in a couple of hours. However, If drugs or
significant allegations of physical abuse are involved, then your
children will stay in Child Haven for at least a couple of
days. There is probably no way to get them back or even talk
to them until a court hearing, so chill out. In Child
Haven, your children are safe and well attended. The only
thing you can do right now is get the time of the hearing
(which is usually 9 am on the next or following business
day). If you are sober, you should try to contact the
investigator who is handling the case, but this is not
always possible before the first hearing.

Step 5: Protective Custody Hearing. Legally,
the police or Child Protective Services (CPS) can take your
children from your home based only on their judgment that
the children are in danger (NRS
432B.390 1a). However, this discretion is only valid for
72 hours. After that, the government needs the approval of a
judge if it wants to continue holding your kids. This
approval is granted at a "Protective Custody" (PC) hearing
(NRS
432B.470), which is roughly the equivalent of an
arraignment in a criminal case. In the waiting room or
hallway outside the courtroom, you will have a chance to
meet and talk with the CPS investigator who is handling your
case. The investigator will discuss the charges against you
and will probably ask you about any relatives who can take
the kids. You will then appear in court when your case is
called. You have a "right" to an attorney in this court, but
only if you can pay for it yourself; a public defender is
not normally appointed at this early stage, and most parents
appear without an attorney. The investigator will describe
to the judge, verbally, the circumstances that brought the
children into custody and make a recommendation about what
should happen next. The children could be released
to you today, but this is unlikely if there are direct
allegations that you used drugs. It is more likely that the
children could be released to a relative, but even this may
take a few days. If the judge finds that there are
reasonable grounds for holding the kids, then another
hearing will be set for 10 days from now. In all likelihood,
your kids will remain in Child Haven, but you will now have
a chance to visit them, probably the same day.

Step 6: Plea Hearing. After the PC
hearing, the government has 10 days to assemble its formal
grounds for taking the kids. This will take the form of a written
document called a "Petition" (NRS
432B.510), as copy of which you will receive before the hearing (NRS
432B.513). The document will describe the events that
lead to the children being taken and may also include
information on any prior cases you have been involved in.
About 10 days after the PC hearing, A "Plea" hearing
takes place (NRS
432B.490 1b). Here, you must decide whether to admit or
deny the charges. If you DENY the charges now, then there
will be a further hearing about 30 days from now, in which
the allegations against you must be proven. If you ADMIT the
charges now, then this hearing is skipped. (Admitting drug
use in this court rarely results in further criminal
prosecution, only a plan for treatment.) Most parents admit
to the charges. At the Plea Hearing, the placement of
children with relatives may be formally approved. The
relatives can be used only if they the pass a cursury
criminal check and agree to the placement. If there are no
suitable relatives, then the children will probably remain
in Child Haven for a while.

Suggestion: It is a good idea to
ask for a public defender at the Plea Hearing,
even though it may not be granted. Public defenders are
every bit as competent as any attorney you can hire (often
more so, because they understand this court), and it is
better to get one for free if you can. An attorney is
especially helpful during Step 7 in the process.

Step 6A: Adjudicatory Hearing on Petition. If
you denied the charges at the Plea Hearing, then a new
hearing is scheduled about 30 days later (NRS
432B.530). At this hearing  essentially a trial
 the government will present its case against you,
including calling witnesses and presenting the results of
any drug tests. You also have the right to call witnesses
of your own. You have the right to hire an attorney, but
this being a civil matter, you don't necessarily have a
right to a public defender. The standards of proof are
somewhat lower here than they would be in a criminal trial.
In criminal cases, you have a right to a jury trial, and
guilt must be proven "beyond a reasonable doubt." Here,
your case will be decided only by a judge based on a
"preponderance of evidence," which is basically the
discretion of a judge who hears these cases every day.
If the charges are not proven (which is rare), you can take
your children home the same day (NRS
432B.530 ¶5). If the charges are proven, then you
will proceed to Step 7, having lost a several weeks in the
process.

Step 7: Development of Case Plan. Over the
course of the next 15 days (or 30(?) if there was no
Adjudicatory Hearing), you will work with your caseworker to
develop a case plan. This is a written document
specifying the steps you have to go through to get your kids
back. The case plan is tailored to your particular
situation and the circumstances that brought the children
into custody. You may be required to attend and complete a
drug treatment program, submit to random drug testing, get a
job (an arrangement by which you trade your labor for
money) and find safe and stable place to live. The case
plan may also specify how and when you will get your kids
back if you make good progress on this plan. Everyone
who is still in the system at this stage gets a case plan,
whether they want one or not. If you fail to contact your
caseworker and don't show up at hearings, then a default
case plan will be entered for you.

The case plan is
important, because it is the blueprint for all the processes
that will follow. If you complete the terms of your case
plan, then you will get your children back. If you
substantially fail the case plan, and do it consistantly
over time, then you will permanently lose your children. It
is useful to have a lawyer to help you review the case plan,
to give you maximum flexibility and keep you from making
promises that might not be able to fulfill. (For example,
the case plan may require you to attend adult education
classes and learn to read, but you don't want this clause to
prevent you from getting your kids back if you do everything
else right. Then again, if you can't read, YOU WOULDN'T BE
READING THIS WEB PAGE.)

Suggestion: If you want your kids
back, then this period is the time to prove that you are
serious about it. You need to stay off drugs and keep in
contact with your caseworker (without becoming annoying).
You can start working on your case plan even before it is
approved by the court. It is fairly important now to not
piss off your caseworker, no matter how much like Satan
they may seem, as he or she is going to report to the court
on your attitude.

Step 8: Report and Disposition Hearing (R&D).
About 30(?) days after Step 6 (or 15
days after Step 6A), you will attend a hearing in which the
case plan is reviewed and approved by a judge. The
caseworker may also submit to the judge, in writing and
orally, further information on your case and the condition
and placement of the children. The judge will be concerned
with your apparent progress in addressing whatever problem
brought the children into custody. The judge will be
concerned with where the children are now and where they are
going to go. If no suitable relative can be found to take
the children, then the case will be referred to the foster
care division of the Department of Family Services (DFS) and
the kids will be placed in a foster home. Once the case
plan is approved and the placement of the children is
decided, there may be no more hearings for six months.

Suggestion: If you don't want your kids
back, then you should blow off the R&D hearing and get
high instead. Although this in itself will not guarantee
the permanent loss of your children, it is a good start.

Step 9: Six-Month Review. After the R&D hearing,
there will be a hearing to review of your case at least
every six months (NRS
432B.530).

[Coming: Termination of Parental Rights]

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